Chuck Versus the Bump
by Imagination-Parade
Summary: "I know what I want for Christmas," Sarah told him. "I think you're a little late for that," Chuck laughed. "What I want might take a while to get here..." Chuck sees Sarah pregnant for the first time & remembers the morning they decided to have a baby.


_Hi everyone! For those of you who missed it in my last post, I've changed my pen name! Formerly HollywoodDramaQueen, now Imagination-Parade to match my Tumblr_

_Maybe not the best night to be posting something new, but I wanted to get it out before next week's episode potentially screws this story up, haha. Hope everyone's having a nice weekend so far!_

_As always, Chuck isn't mine, and reviews make holidays better :)_

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><p>"Hello!" Chuck Bartowski called as he hurried down the stairs to Castle. "Sarah?"<p>

"Sorry, dude," Morgan Grimes called as he entered the room. "Just me. How was the trip? Glad to be home?"

"Yeah…I'd be a little gladder if my wife were here," Chuck admitted. "No offense."

"None taken, but she took off _hours_ ago. What are you doing here?" Morgan asked.

"She told me she'd be here all day when I talked to her this morning," Chuck said. "I know my flight was a _little_ late, but I thought she'd be here."

"Nah, but _dude_, wait until you see her! It's going to blow your mind!" Morgan said. "More so than normal, that is."

"Why?" Chuck asked. "Really?"

"Yeah, man, she finally popped!" Morgan said, lightly punching Chuck's shoulder.

Chuck's face broke into a huge grin. "Morgan, I'm going to go home now."

Morgan's grin matched Chuck's, and he nodded knowingly. "Goodnight," he said.

Chuck made it home in record time, dropping his luggage by the door of their little house on his way in. He called her name again as soon as he locked the door behind him.

"In here!" Sarah called from their bedroom. "I'll be out in a minute! Don't come in!"

"What do you mean 'don't come in'?" he asked, making his way towards their room. "I haven't seen you in two weeks!"

"I know, but I have a surprise for you! Don't come in!" she repeated.

"Sar-_ah_," he whined, drawing out the last syllable of her name. He stopped in their open doorway. She was nowhere to be found, but the light in their walk-in closet was on. "Come _on_! I want to see your stomach!"

"And what exactly do you think you know about my stomach?" she asked, an edge of irritation to her voice. Chuck was nearly jumping up and down in anticipation.

"Morgan told me. Get out here!" Chuck said.

Sarah Walker appeared in the closet doorway just a moment later, a look of shock on her face. Her hair fell in loose curls around her shoulders, and she was dressed in black panties and a pale pink lingerie top. The top was fitted beneath her breasts and flowed into two halves that had once hung against her flat stomach but now perfectly framed a small baby bump. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and let out a sigh.

"I'm going to _kill_ Morgan Grimes," she huffed.

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><p><em>Four and a half months earlier…<em>

Chuck and Sarah were having a lazy Saturday at home. Chuck had moved to the living room mid-morning to catch up on some television while he let his wife sleep in. He was sitting on the couch, feet wrapped in comfy winter socks propped up on the table, when he heard her enter the room. He paused the TV just as she sauntered up behind him.

She wrapped her arms around the part of his body she could reach from behind the couch and nuzzled her face against his cheek, lightly kissing the warm skin. He placed his hand on top of her crossed ones against his chest and turned his head for a proper kiss hello.

"Morning," he whispered. She let out a little moan and kissed him again. She pulled away with a smile and took a few moments to simply stare at her husband's face. Chuck grinned. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked.

"I've just been thinking…" she said. "I know what I want for Christmas this year."

Chuck contorted his face into a look of exaggerated confusion. "Uh, babe, I think you're a little late. You do know Christmas was, like, two weeks ago, right? Or is this your subtle way of telling me you don't like what I got you because I was kind of on the fence, but I thought I'd take a chance, and you can tell me if you don't like them…" he rambled.

"No, Chuck, it has nothing to do with the earrings," she said. She pulled back a little so he could see that she was wearing his Christmas earrings and then leaned back against him. "But what I want this year might take a while to get here, so you should probably know now."

"Okay, I'll bite. What do you want?" Chuck asked.

He had no idea what kind of present he'd need to start working on in January, but he knew she wouldn't come out and tell him without being prompted. She was quiet for a minute and almost shyly buried her face into his neck. Chuck stayed still, watching her as best he could, wondering why she seemed a little nervous to talk to him. She leaned back up and let her lips linger near his ear.

"A baby," she said softly. "_Your_ baby."

"You want a…wait…what?" he asked, shifting around a bit to better see her face.

"I want to be a mommy, Chuck," she said with a small smile. "Before this new year's over, preferably."

"Are you serious?" he asked. He didn't think she was kidding, but he didn't want to get his hopes up, so he fought the grin that threatened to overtake his face.

Sarah's look of giddy excitement suddenly disappeared. "What? You don't want to?"

"No! No, no, not that," he quickly said. "Come here."

Sarah made her way around the couch, and Chuck wrapped his arms around her middle, pulling her onto his lap. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and sat close to his body.

"You don't believe me?" she asked with an amused tone of voice.

"No, I believe you! I mean, we've always talked about this as one of those 'someday' things. I just…are you sure, Sarah? I want you to be sure when we do that," Chuck said. "It's kind of a really big deal, but for you, especially."

"Well," Sarah said. "We've been _together_ together for about five years now, and I think we're doing pretty well."

"We're doing _very_ well," he smiled, caressing her back.

"And there _is_ a bit of an age concern," Sarah laughed nervously.

"That's not the reason you're bringing this up, right?" Chuck asked. "Because we've still got some time…"

"No! Well, that may be partially why I started thinking about it, but I'm ready, Chuck," she said. "I _feel_ ready anyway. Does that sound stupid?"

"No, it's not stupid," Chuck said with a smile. "You really want to do this?"

"Yes," she said. "I love you, and I love us, and we're _perfect_, but…" She trailed off, not quite sure how to finish verbalizing what she was feeling.

"Part of our family is missing," Chuck said.

Sarah nodded. "Yeah," she said.

Sarah didn't think it was possible, but Chuck's smile managed to get even bigger. He squeezed her a little tighter and said, "So we're going to do this?"

"I'd like to," Sarah said. "Do you want to be a daddy?"

"Yes!" he said. "God, yes."

"Then let's do it," she smiled.

He cupped her face in his palm and drew her in for a passionate kiss. Both husband and wife struggled not to smile during their kiss as he slipped her off his lap and laid her down on the couch cushions next to him. Chuck hovered over her, entangling his pajama-clad leg with one of hers as they kissed, and pulled back slightly. Sarah lightly bit down on her lip, and Chuck pushed some hair away from her face.

"So should we talk about this more, maybe, or should we just…" Chuck started.

Sarah silenced him with a tender kiss. "Let's just try," she said.

A couple weeks later, Sarah came home with hands full of grocery bags as Chuck got ready to prepare dinner in their kitchen. She set them down on the table and walked into the hallway to hang her jacket and bag in the closet, and he immediately began rooting through the bags to find the ingredients he needed to make their meal.

"Uh…Sarah?" he asked, pulling three pregnancy test boxes out of one of the bags. "Are these because you think you might be…or just an advance purchase?"

She took a deep breath and turned to face him. "I think I might be. I'm six days late."

"Well, six days…that's not really…I mean I'm no expert, but that's not out of the realm of possibility, is it?" he stuttered.

"It kind of is for me," Sarah admitted. "Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I think I was about twelve the last time I was _that_ off."

"But…but…we've only done it, like, ten times since…!" he exclaimed.

She laughed. "It only takes once, Chuck," she said. "Don't freak out."

"I'm not…I'm not freaking out," he insisted.

She nodded knowingly, feeling the same mess of nerves and excitement he was at that moment, and headed into the kitchen. "So what can I help with?"

"Oh, no, uh-uh, no dinner until you go take one of these," he said, thrusting one of the boxes into her hands and pushing her towards the nearest bathroom. "You can't drop that on me and then ask what's for dinner! Let's go."

Sarah filled her time by pacing in the hallway just a few minutes later, while Chuck leaned anxiously on the wall across from the bathroom. He checked his watch, and she glanced up at him.

"Well?" she asked.

"This is the longest two minutes of my life," Chuck sighed.

"Yeah, tell me about it," she mumbled.

Chuck watched as the seconds timer on his watch counted down the last half-minute. He gave an extra five seconds just in case before saying, "It's time. Go get it."

Sarah made it almost all the way into the bathroom before turning around and rejoining him in the hallway. "You look," she said.

"What? Why?" he asked.

"Because I'm too nervous about the outcome, and I don't know _which_ outcome I'm more nervous about, so please, Chuck," she admitted.

"Well just know that no matter what the outcome is…either way…whatever…I love," he started, taking one of her hands in one of his.

"Just go get it," she sighed.

Chuck disappeared into the bathroom. Sarah had been wrong before. _This _was the longest minute of her life. He reappeared in the doorway, pregnancy test in hand and a huge grin on his face. Sarah sucked in a deep breath and stood up a little bit straighter.

"Well?" she asked.

"Merry Christmas, baby," he said, handing the test to her.

Sarah looked stunned. "What?" she asked, reaching for the small stick. There, clear as day, were the two little lines that told them, should all go well, Sarah was going to get Christmas wish. "I…wow…"

"Don't freak out," Chuck smiled, gently grabbing her shoulders.

"I really didn't think it would happen that fast…" she said. She stared at the test, attempting to do enough math in her head to figure out when her baby would be born. "It won't even be a December baby. I thought if we started in January, I might at least be _pregnant_ by this year's Christmas."

"Am I good or _am I good_?" Chuck asked with a cocky grin and an exaggerated shrug.

Sarah laughed and shoved him playfully. Chuck caught her before she could back away. He wrapped one hand around her back and lovingly touched her stomach with the other. Her eyes stayed fixed upon his hand until they traveled up to meet his. The couple shared a smile, and Chuck pulled her into a tight embrace, lifting her off the floor to even out their heights and hold her closer. Sarah let out a little sob as tears sprang to her eyes, and Chuck buried his face in her neck.

"I love you," he whispered against her skin.

"I love you," she said back.

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><p><em>Present Day…<em>

"Oh my god…" Chuck breathed, his eyes fixated on her from across the room. Even pouting, Morgan had been right. The sight of her obviously pregnant with his child was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, and it was blowing his mind.

"Morgan knew I wanted to surprise you and see the look on your face when you first found out I looked like this," Sarah sighed in frustration. "Why would he tell you?"

"Baby," Chuck smiled. "I promise, hearing it is _nothing_ like seeing it."

He walked over to the side of the bed nearest the closet and reached for her as he sat down. She sighed, uncrossed her arms, smiled, and walked over to stand in front of him, making his eyes nearly level with her rounded belly. He held her hips and just looked at her, eyes traveling over every inch of her changing torso. She laughed.

"Chuck, you _can_ touch me, you know," she said.

"I will. I just…wow," he said. "I mean, you were a little swollen before I left two weeks ago, but this…this is…you look _pregnant_, Sarah, and I mean that in the best possible way."

"That's not the only change," she said, placing one of his hands on her belly. "Can you feel that?"

"Is that a kick?" Chuck exclaimed.

"She started kicking like crazy when we heard your voice in the room," Sarah said.

Chuck waited for one more kick before looking up at his wife in awe. "That's our baby," he marveled. She nodded. "What about you? How do you feel?" he asked.

She grinned. "Kinda sexy," she admitted.

"You look kind of sexy," he said, caressing her stomach.

"Really?" she asked.

"You're _gorgeous_," he said sincerely. "And I like this happy Sarah much better than the Sarah I left two weeks ago."

"I was not that bad," she protested.

"I tried to say goodbye to you, and you sat on the couch crying and yelling at me about how you didn't look pregnant, and you couldn't feel the baby so I must not have done a sufficient enough job of knocking you up!" Chuck reminded her.

"I didn't think I was going to be _halfway_ through this thing before I started showing! I know I'll probably be appreciative of that in the long run, but I wanted to see her," Sarah said. "And the kicks hurt sometimes, but they're also exciting."

"Well, I'm happy that you're happy now. And showing…and I don't mean to be staring at your stomach while I talk to you, but…" Chuck said.

"It's okay," she laughed. "I've done a lot of staring the past couple days, too."

Chuck stood slightly to place a tender kiss on his wife's lips before lowering himself back to the mattress and placing an equally loving kiss on Sarah's stomach. Sarah smiled and curled her hands around the ones Chuck had placed on her skin. He kissed her belly one more time before falling back onto the mattress. His upper body collided with a large, long pillow resting in the middle of the bed, and he sat back up, clutching it in his arms.

"This is new," he said.

Sarah took it in her arms and hugged it to her body. "I bought it the day after you left. It's comfortable," she said. "You may have lost me to the pillow for the next five months. Sorry, sweetheart."

Chuck grinned. "You've got my baby in your belly, so you can cuddle whatever you want," he promised. "Though I would like it to be me from time to time."

Sarah chuckled again, tossed the pillow onto the bed and curled into his lap. Chuck immediately wrapped his arms around her, resting one hand on her stomach, and Sarah twisted her arm around his shoulders, sinking her fingers into his hair. Chuck just looked at his wife for several more moments, and Sarah lazily let his hair slip between her fingers, waiting for him to silently take everything in.

"What are you thinking?" she finally asked.

"Your belly's cute," he said.

She grinned. "Thanks," she said. "It all feels real now."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"It was easy to forget I was pregnant when my body hadn't changed much, and I wasn't feeling awful or having morning sickness all day," she said. She placed a hand on her bump and said, "This just makes it so much more real. I haven't even met her, and I already love her _so_ much, Chuck."

"I do, too," he said.

"What are we going to do when she wants to go on her first mission? I'm going to be a total mess," Sarah said.

"Sarah," Chuck laughed. "Sarah, you don't need to think about that! That's decades away, and she might not even want to be a spy!"

"Look at her family, Chuck," Sarah said. "She's going to be a spy."

"I like to believe that you'll teach her to be strong enough to overcome that desire," Chuck laughed. "But you're right. It does feel a lot more real now."

"In a good way," Sarah said.

"In the _best_ way," Chuck said. He stared at her a little bit more, lightly caressing her stomach before gushing, "God, Sarah, I just can't get over how beautiful you look."

She smiled and caressed his neck before leaning in for another kiss. She clutched his face as they exchanged tender kisses, and he leaned down after breaking their kiss, pressing his lips to her stomach once again.

"I love you," Chuck said. "_Both _of you."

"We love you, too," Sarah said.

Sarah climbed into bed while Chuck quickly showered and changed into pajamas. She was just barely awake by the time he joined her between the sheets, and he held out his arm, hoping she would snuggle into him. She did, and it wasn't long before she gasped quietly, her eyes closed, and sleepily touched her stomach; Chuck knew she had just felt a little flutter underneath her skin. He held as close as he could, Sarah's new baby bump nestled safely between them, and Chuck drifted off to sleep knowing that this was the most beautiful place he'd ever been.

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><p><em>Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think :)<em>


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